FOHEst AND STREAM. 
break away and go into all sorts of fits if touched on the 
body.) Once in the boat, the captors fell upon the big 
fish and held it down, though with difficulty, Mr. Heikes 
shows a badly lacerated thumb as a result of his share 
of the fight. At the hotel the. fish was found to measure 
itfin. in length, and it weighed 261bs. 30Z. — certainly a 
very fine specimen. 
Talking with some Eau Claire men about this fishing 
country, one of them invited the lucky pike angler to try 
and catch a certain fish which he saw for a brief moment, 
and which he says was long as a fence rail. 
Mr. Heikes says he is going up there again next yea- 
Lost Lake, on the Tea River, a tributary of the Flam- 
beau, where according to his report the muscallungc 
fishing is very fine in season. I do not know this water, 
and have not known any Chicago parties who have visited 
•it. 1 ••' . 
Long Lake is a bit famous for these big pike, and 
worth bearing in mind. It is near Drummond Stat: or. 
and I understand there are good accommodations iher-i 
The Fish Commission of Wisconsin has lately been 
engaged along the bayous and pond holes of the Missis- 
sippi River, seining out the landlocked young fish and 
returning them to the main waters. There is no more 
practical form of fish protection or fishculture than this. 
Such fishes are known to be native to such waters and 
it goes without saying that they will thrive there better than 
importations, and their size when taken in salvage is 
sufficient to assure their life when restored to the main 
waters. 
I had a curious instance of the growth of the preserve 
idea offered me the other day in Iowa. It was at Newton, 
near the Skunk River, which was once a very fine fish- 
ing stream, as I personally know. Of late years the 
trot lines, nets, seines and dynamite cartridges have so 
depleted this stream that it is hard to catch a mess of 
any kind of fish whatsoever in a day's work with hook 
and line. Seeing that this is so, a young man with 
whom I was talking went on to tell me, a little party 
of three or four young married men had just concluded 
to lease a little piece of land, some half a mile or so in 
extent, which inclosed a little open lake out in the mid- 
dle of the bottom lands of the Skunk River. Here, they 
had figured it out, they could employ a neighboring 
farmer as a keeper and could see to it that no one 
came in to shoot or fish on their property. They were 
intending to stock the water with bass, perch and rock 
bass, to plant wild rice and rushes, and to try for a little 
summer place, where they and their families could occa- 
sionally go down to the river with some prospect of get- 
ting a few fish or a few ducks in season. This they had 
figured out for themselves pretty much independently 
and on original lines. I don't think any one of them 
had ever seen inside a sporting paper, or had ever given 
the preserve system any considerable thought. Yet it 
was easy enough for them all to see that the old open 
ways of the past had ruined all chance of sport in that 
country, so that they must do something to keep out the 
unbridled public if they were to have the least of game 
or fish for themselves. I imagine that they may at first, 
have some trouble, with local farmer boys and others 
who have so long been used to doing as they liked with- 
out reference to the law, but after a while they will be 
able to gain respect for their property and respect also 
for their purpose of retaining a few of the original birds 
and fishes of that part of the world. Never was worse 
harried section than that, and so far as I can learn the 
State Fish Commission of Iowa has never heard of it, 
and such a thing as a game warden is an unknown quan- 
tity. I used to tramp all over that open and then wild 
country when I was much younger, and at that time, I 
presume, I should have thought it impertinence of a very 
gross sort which should have told me when I should 
rise up or sit doAvn in my wanderings, or which should 
have told me I could not fish and shoot as I liked. 
Thanks to a good training at the hands of my father, 
who seemed always to have had the principles of modera- 
tion and decency in sport in his heart, long before the 
days of necessity or education in such matters, I was 
early in rebellion at the old wasteful ways, which it was 
easy to see would soon destroy the sporting resources 
of our country. There were not a half-dozen families 
in our village which did not laugh at such foolish notions. 
The story since then has been that to be read all over 
the country. Those who do not like the preserve idea 
may thank themselves that they have it. And it is bound 
to come. 
Mary Years. 
Perhaps some sportsmen who travel out of the Chicago 
& Northwestern Depot of Chicago may have seen in 
the general passenger offices an old and white-headed 
man who writes tickets for the fortunate, and who has 
been head ticket clerk there for a long time. This is Mr. 
Franklin Price. This week when I saw Mr. Price he 
gave me an envelope containing the announcement of 
' his fiftieth wedding anniversary, on Aug. 31 of this year. 
E. Hough. 
Bass and Trout in Croton Basin. 
Carmeu, N. Y., Sept. 3. — The fishing in Gleneida 
Lake and the other lakes in this vicinity, which have 
been included in the water supply system of New York 
city, has been very good throughout the season. Black 
bass weighing from 2 to 61bs. are caught almost any- 
where in the lakes, and pickerel and eels have perhaps 
never been more abundant. In so far as fishing is con- 
cerned the lakes and ponds in this section are consid- 
ered public property, and no attempt has been made by 
the city authorities to keep fishermen away. 
The ponds and lakes in this vicinity include Lake 
Gilead, Gleneida, Reservoir D, Southeast Reservoir, 
Drewsville Dam, Boyd's Dam, Pine Pond, Barrett 
Pond, China Pond and Lake Mahopac. 
Mr. L. E. Cole, of this place, has been experimenting 
with salmon trout. He placed them in Lake Gleneida 
four years ago. An occasional one has been caught 
every year since they were put in the lake, and the ex- 
periment, is undoubtedly a success. 
Tuna and Tarpon. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Allow me to add a word to the discussion of the tuna 
fishing at Catalina Island, as compared with tarpon 
fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, in favor of the tuna as 
the harder fighting fish. 
My tackle is the same as that used for tarpon, ex- 
cepting that a reel holding 900ft. of line is necessary for 
the tuna, while 600 was ample for tarpon. This is owing 
to the strength and speed of the tuna, whose rushes 
require more line, 
It was after an hour and a half of the hardest sort of 
fight that a tuna weighing I481bs. was brought to' gaff, 
while a tarpon of about the same size was tired in 
thirty-five minutes, using identical tackle. 
The tuna is swimming about constantly in pursuit of 
the flying fish, while the tarpon is satisfied with less 
animated food, and it is for this reason that the tuna 
is the more powerful and swifter swimmer of the 
two. . 
The method of trolling with flying fish also is more 
agreeable than still-fishing in the blazing snn, as one al- 
ways has a breeze to keep one cool, even if the fish do 
not bite, while in Florida the weather conditions are 
apt to result in heated language on the part of the pa- 
tient angler, after he has watched the sun climb to the 
zenith, without getting anything but catfish for his 
roasting. M. C. A knot. 
"That reminds me." 
A few old sportsmen were relating their experiences 
to each other, when an interloper drew up and inter- 
rupted them with a few stories of his hair-breadth escapes, 
much to their disgust. Finally one chipped in and quiet- 
ly told the following story: 
"Three or four years ago I was hunting in the Rocky 
Mountains and happened to be on the top of a high 
precipice, and for the purpose of getting a better view of 
the valley, some 500 or 600ft. below, laid down my 
gun and crawled out upon a small rock overlooking the 
chasm, and s.trangely fell asleep. 
"Presently I was awakened by a noise on the bank 
and saw a large bear within a few feet of me. Of 
course, I was powerless, as I could hardly move without 
falling from the rock and I could not escape to the 
bank nor reach my gun, which was beyond the bear. 
"Presently the bear crawled down slowly until he 
stood squarely over me on the rock." 
After a short pause the interloper asked: "What did 
the bear do?" 
"Ate me up." Pokeepste. 
he fflmnel. 
Fixtures. 
Sept. 12. — Northwestern Field Trials Club's Champion Stake, 
near Winnipeg. Thos. Johnson, Sec'y. 
Nov. 1-5. — Fourth annual field trials of^ the Monongahela Valley 
Game and Fish Protective Association, Greene county, Fa. S. B. 
Cummings, Sec'y, Pittsburg. 
Nov. 7.— Indiana Field Trials Club's trials, Bicknell, Jnd. S. 
H. Socwell, Sec'y. 
Nov. 11.— Eastern F»eld Trials Club's trials, Newton, N. C. 
S. C. Bradley, Sec'y. 
Nov. 15.— International Field Trial Club's trials, Chatham, Ont. 
W. B. Wells, Sec'y. 
Nov. 15-17. — Central Beagle Club's annual trials. L. O. Seidel, 
Sec'y. 
Dec. 5-6.— Missouri Valley Field Trial Club's trials. C. H. 
Werner, Sec'y. 
Dec. 5. — Continental Field Trial Club's trials, Lexington, N. 
C. W. B. Meares, Sec'y. 
Dogs, Coons, Possums and Rifle. 
Jameson, Tenn. — Editor Forest and Stream: I want: 
to tell you about some coon hunting and a famous dog 
that once belonged to me. I had been running hounds 
for a number of years when, with the turn of the tide, I 
found myself the owner of but one dog. He w T as a. 
grand red hound, and had been a leader in the fox 
chase. He was for a number of years my companion 
along the highways and hedgerows of our section of 
middle Tennessee. 
About this time something commenced to trouble 
my chickens at night. I encouraged the dog to run 
whatever it was, but met with poor success at first. 
Finally one night there was a great commotion among 
the chickens. I was out in a jiffy with the dog, and 
in two minutes he had chased something to the nearby 
woods, and was baying. I was soon 011 the spot, and 
found him barking up a tall chestnut, standing somewhat 
apart from the other trees. The top was thickly set 
with leaves and I could see nothing. I was anxious 
to kill whatever it was. The time was then about 12 
o'clock, and I was not willing to sit up until daylight, so 
I fastened a lighted candle on the side of the tree and 
went back to bed. 
Next morning I went out early. The dog had stayed 
at the tree and the candle was still burning. Either the 
dog or the light, maybe both, had kept the game up, 
It proved to be a coon, and was traveling out first on 
one limb and then another. 
The coon usually takes up its position in the main 
fork, and stays there, but this one was restless and was 
trying to make its escape. The first shot from my rifle 
brought it down. It proved to be an old suckler. The 
chickens were not troubled again soon, and from that 
night the dog was the greatest coon dog I have ever 
seen. I have owned a number of good ones, but this 
one stands a star among them. 
During the summer, after what I have related, many 
and many a morning I waked to hear him barking in 
the woods, and many are the times I have gone to 
him and dropped my coon. 
As soon as possums and 'tatoes were ripe, I com- 
menced to hunt at night. He proved s^s good on pos- 
sums as he was on coons, and he had this peculiarity: 
He wouldn't cry the track of either, but just slipped 
right up on them. 
My manner of hunting may interest some readers of 
Forest and Stream. I believe it in part original; at 
least I have never heard of any one trying my plan. 
I usually climb after the possums and shoot the coons, 
using a rifle. This shooting can only be done when the 
moon is shining, but it need by no means be full. I 
have killed them when it didn't look larger than my 
hat. 
My plan is to go to the tree, then back away, keep- 
ing the tree between me and the moon. The coon is 
easily seen. When the moon is on a line anyway 
near him his fur commences to shine, and when it is 
near him he looks like a polished silver ball. I get 
the coon at the lower edge of the moon, then bring my 
gun up from below. In this way a fine sight may be 
taken. More care needs be taken than in the day- 
time, but equally as correct a sight can be taken as in 
the daytime. Should the object be missed and a limb 
struck, the particles of bark that fly look exactly like a 
puff of smoke from a cigar, so one may see exactly 
how close he is shooting, 
Should any coon hunters read this, I hope they will 
try my plan of shooting. It is certainly very fine 
sport. I have killed coons a full hundred vards or more. 
On one occasion I was hunting with a friend of mine 
in the hill country, and we were standing on a point of 
woodland overlooking a field. The dog, being a wide 
hunter, crossed the field and commenced to bark on 
the hill beyond. We found him treed up a large oak. 
standing on a high bluff. The moon wa"s low, and I 
had necessarily to get a long way back. The coon was 
finally located near the top. The distance was so great 
I told my friend I never could kill that one. I was 
using a small rifle too, but the first shot struck danger- 
ously close, and the third one brought him down. He 
was a large coon and was only crippled, so was ready 
for a fight. A young hound had followed us that knew 
nothing about coons, but he soon found out something 
to his sorrow. He was the first to take hold. The coon 
fastened his teeth in the dog's ear. The dog began to 
bawl and pull back. I put my foot on the coon. The 
dog continued to pull and split his ear almost from one 
end to the other, making a noise like the tearing of a 
piece of canvas. On the way home that night we 
sot another coon, but he was low down and was easily 
killed. 
I remember well the last coon I killed while I owned 
this dog. I was hunting in the flat country, along a 
willow branch. Some distance from me one 
round hill rose from the level and stood like a sentinel. 
Its top was crowned with giant forest trees. The dog 
went to these and found a coon. He was so far away 
I am certain I did not hear him when he first com- 
menced to bark. When I did hear him, I hardly could, 
but I knew him well. I found the coon lying in the 
fork of one of these large trees. The moon was small 
and was almost straight up. I stood near the root of the 
tree to shoot. The coon was looking down at me. The 
ball struck him in the face and he tumbled right down 
at my feet, and was dead almost by the time he struck 
the ground. After that the dog came up "strayed or 
stolen," and I have not seen him since. 
Backwoods. 
_ _ 1 
The Hound Pup, 
BY ADDA L. NICHOLS. 
I just wish that dapper little drummer who said 
Priceville was a dead town could 'a' been here the 
day the train came in with Joe Borden's hound pup. 
To be sure it wasn't a much for lookin' pup, though 
they do say it's a fancy breed an' has a registered pedi- 
gree. 
However, I don't believe that would have made any 
difference to the drummer, for he, most likely, had been 
disappointed in business or crossed in love, probably 
both. Anyway he was soured in disposition from some 
cause or he wouldn't have called our town dead. 
Dead, indeed! Why, that dog wasn t more than 
handed out o' the baggage car 'til every man in sight 
was on his way to the depot. Actually they stood so 
thick about the express truck I couldn't even see the 
box he was shipped in, an' I was standin' on my tip 
toes too. 
What? well, I don't know why I shouldn't want to 
sec, if I am an old maid keepin' a milliner shop. 
Neither one o' them things prevents a body's wantin' 
to know what's a-goin' on, so far as I've ever heard. 
You didn't mean any harm, you say, never mind! I 
•s'pose you didn't. But, as I was sayin', 3'ou'd ought 
to 'a' seen those men. They fairly fell over each other 
ttryin' to be the first to get a look at the pup. 
Old Uncle George Merriman, that keeps the corner 
grocery, went clear up there without his hat an' coat, 
though it was an' awful cold day, you ceuld see the 
wmd flutterin' his white shirt sleeves, an' wavin' the 
little fringe o' gray hair below his shiny, bald pate. 
Join Rider, bein' a clerk, was obliged to stick to his 
custoiKi£ir, But it was Mrs. Bartlett he was waitin' on, 
an' she told me herself that she had to ask him for 
a lamp c&imney three times, while he was stretchin' his 
necik AUt &' the window, before she could make him 
hear. 
Dead, indeed! Why, it's wonderful the interest our 
citizens take in things. All the men that had help in 
their stores left and run soon as they heard about it. 
Harry Houston locked up the bank and hurried off 
without his cane, for all he has such terrible rheumatism. 
He got a bad crack in his back while he was up there, 
•so the men had to load him in a buggy an' haul him 
home. I thought for a time he'd got more attention 
than the dog. But he didn't. 'Twasn't natural that he 
should, he's just an ordinary man, an' you don't see a 
bloodhound with a registered pedigree every day. 
I reckon you've heard how smart the pup turned out? 
No? Well, did I ever! Oh, yes, I do remember now 
.about your trip to Ohio, of course you couldn't know. 
Well, you see, Joe hadn't had his dog more'n a week 
when Middleton's store 'was robbed. There was a lot 
o" sgoods stolen and some* money, the whole thing 
